Finals
by Mac-alicious
Summary: Finals at East High were coming up and Gabriella was drowning herself in her books. It was a rare thing to see Gabriella without a textbook or notes. She refused to relax and she was slowly overwhelming herself with the stress. Troy hoped to change that.


A/N: Um, I don't really have much to say except this is the first update of many in the next couple days! Enjoy! R&R! Thanks. -Mac

Disclaimer: Don't own HSM...which is unfortunate.

**Finals**

Troy gently pushed open the door to Gabriella's room. Mrs. Montez had invited him in, hoping that he could somehow find a way to draw Gabriella away from her studies. Finals at East High were coming up and Gabriella was drowning herself in her books. It was a rare thing to see Gabriella without a textbook, notes or a review packet. She refused to relax and she was slowly overwhelming herself with the stress. Troy hoped to change that.

Gabriella was sitting at her desk when Troy stepped into her room. SHe was furiously taking notes on a scrap of paper as she read from one of her textbooks. She gave no sign that she was aware of Troy's presence. She just continued working without pause. Troy was standing right behind her before he made a sound to alert her to his being there.

"Gabby..." Troy started to speak.

Gabriella jerked, spinning around to look at him, she gave a relieved sigh, "Oh my God, Troy! You scared me! I didn't know you were there. I was concentrating on my history notes."

"My fault." Troy said with a smile, throwing his hands up. "I was quiet."

"Did you need something?" Gabriella asked as she turned right back to her book.

"Nothing specific." Troy shrugged as he moved around her room casually, randomly stopping to observe certain things more closely. "I thought maybe we could do something."

"Oh, I'm sorry Troy. I'm really busy with studying. I intend to do really well on my finals." Gabriella responded, not even looking up. "Maybe some other time."

"It's Saturday afternoon, you've got the rest of the weekend and all of next week to study before finals." Troy replied. "You can take a break."

"I really need to get all this down." Gabriella shook her head. "I need to know this inside and out, perfectly."

"You can afford to take one break and come outside with your best friend. I want to introduce you to a couple of my friends, they're called the sun and fresh air." Troy commented, "Besides you're brilliant. You're going to ace these things easy, anyway."

"Troy, I can't."

"You can."

"No!" Gabriella exclaimed. "If I don't get these dates in the right order in my mind, I'll make a mistake and then I'll get everything wrong. I have to look over all my English books to freshen up on all themes and motifs. I have a couple math formulas I keep mixing up. Don't even get me started on science! And I'm exhausted. I need to get this done now if I want to get any sleep tonight..."

Gabriella was rambling on and on, but Troy only picked up one thing from the whole spill: she was way too stressed. Troy sighed inaudibly. This would take a lot of persuasion to convince her to leave that chair--let alone the room or the house. He set to work--this was going to be some real hard work.

Troy scrunched down next to Gabriella, putting himself even with her sitting form, "You need a break."

"You can say that as many times as you want it's not going to work." Gabriella said.

"You're stressing out."

"Is it that obvious?" Gabriella replied sarcastically.

"You need to take a break." Troy replied more forcefully. "You can't pile all of this onto yourself. You can only take so much pressure and stress before your body will collapse."

Gabriella looked up at him, "What are you trying to say Troy?"

"You're human. You don't have to be perfect. Being human gives you the right to your imperfections."

"I don't want to be _flawed_ Troy."

"Having fun, relaxing, and taking a break once in a while doesn't have to be a flaw." Troy responded. "And missing a few on a test doesn't have to be a death sentence."

"Troy, please." Gabriella sighed.

"Come on, get up. We're going out." Troy ordered.

"No, Troy..."

"Fine, but I'll just sit here and keep distracting you until you come. You won't get anything done, anyway." Troy said. "Believe me. I'll be my most annoying."

"You're not giving me much of a choice, are you?" Gabriella asked, sighing once again.

"Not at all." Troy laughed. "Come on."

Troy stood up straight and offered Gabriella his hand. Reluctantly, Gabriella took it, letting him pull her up out of her chair. She figured the sooner she left, the quicker she was done and then she would be back to work. So she would humor him for the sake of getting back in a reasonable amount of time. Troy pulled her from her room and through her house without letting her go. They passed her mother, in the livingroom, as they came down the stairs. At that point Gabriella moved ahead of Troy, opening her front door.

"Mom, I'm going out. I'll be back soon." Gabriella called out as she stepped out.

She never saw the small smile her mother sent Troy, as her way of saying good job and thank you. She never heard the sigh of relief that her mother let out as the front door closed behind her and Troy.

Out on her front lawn, Gabriella waited for Troy to catch up. "Where are we going?"

Her question came drenched in impatience and Troy chuckled. "Relax. That's the whole point of taking a break. Being this tense and impatient will just defeat the purpose."

"I'm sorry, but my mind is still on my books back inside." Gabriella replied. "It's really important."

"What's important is your being healthy about it. You're exhausting yourself. You're taking on too much pressure. And you're letting the stress overrun your body. Let it go, at least for right now. Not for me, for _you_." Troy shook his head. "I don't think you understand what you're doing to yourself."

Gabriella's shoulders sagged in defeat, "I know the stress isn't good for me, but..."

"No buts." Troy cut her off. "Relax, do yourself some good."

Troy put an arm around her shoulders and started to lead her down the sidewalk. After a few minutes of walking they reached a small park. Troy and Gabriella began to follow the path that ran through and around it. In the afternoons, the park was crowded with little kids on the jungle gym, on the swing sets, and in the sand--while their parents watched from the outskirts of the playground. And that day was no exception. Even amongst the chaos, walking in the park could bring peace. Which Troy hoped to bring to Gabriella.

After they had lapped the park a couple times quietly, Troy spoke up, "Before you start to complaing about how you've been out too long, which you're about ready to do I know it, I have to ask you a couple questions."

"Okay." Gabriella shrugged.

"Honest answers, okay?" Troy added and Gabriella nodded. "Who has the highest grade in all of your classes?"

"Well, I do in most of them, except history. In history I have the same grade as two other people. But..." Gabriella made to continue but Troy stopped her.

"And have you ever gotten less than a B on any test you've ever taken?"

"Well, no. I mean I rarely get B's. I usually get A's on..."

"Have you ever failed at anything you've done?"

"No, but..."

"Then why are you putting so much into these finals, without regards to your health limitations, when there is only a _microscopic_ chance that you'll get anything short of a passing grade?" Troy exclaimed.

"I..." Gabriella stuttered. "I, I don't know. I don't want to take any chances. These finals are twenty percent of our final grade!"

"Gabriella, with the grade you have, you could probably get a zero on the final and still have an A." Troy shook his head. "You're a geniu! You're not going to have a problem."

"You don't know that." Gabriella said.

"No, but I know you. And _you_, Gabriella, are too smart for your own good. You're the kind of person who could do _anything_ blindfolded with your hands tied behind your back." Troy responded. "You know the saying 'you can do anything you put your mind to?' That's one hundred percent about you."

Gabriella laughed lightly, "Troy, really."

"Gabriella, I love how modest you are but be proud of yourself. Hell, be conceited for once. You are smart--out of this world smart. No one compares to you. You don't need to study this hard."

"Troy, I can't not study."

"I'm not asking you to give it up all together. You love to learn, I understand that. You want to better yourself, I admire that. But ease up. Just a little, at least. You shouldn't let yourself stress so much." Troy replied quietly. "You'll make yourself sick."

Gabriella was quiet for a minute, "You're right. I'll ease up."

Troy smiled. Dropping the subject, he exclaimed, "Look, there's a swing open. I'll push you."

Gabriella laughed, but she followed him to the swing set. She sat on the swing and let Troy push her. However childish it might seem, there is no adrenaline rush quite like the feeling of flying you get from leaning back and closing your eyes when you're on a swing. Eventually, Troy just let Gabriella take over. He enjoyed watching her swing back and forth. He enjoyed watching the soft smile that played across her lips.

Gabriella made the swing slow, until she could stand up. She glanced over her shoulder and met Troy's eyes. She gave him a bright, happy smile. And he returned it, offering her his hand. She took it, and didn't even notice when he laced his fingers with hers. They started back toward Gabriella's house.

As they arrived in front of Gabriella's house, Troy stopped. "Okay. I'm going to let you go back in there. But I'm asking you to _please_ not go straight back to studying."

"That would just defeat the purpose, now wouldn't it?" Gabriella smirked and Troy laughed lightly.

"Yeah it would." Troy nodded.

"Troy, thank you." Gabriella said. "I really needed that, no matter how much of a fight I put up."

"It's no problem."

"It's just...you didn't have to."

"You're my best friend, why wouldn't I?" Troy inquired.

"No reason, I guess." Gabriella smiled. "Bye."

"Bye." Troy reciprocated.

Gabriella started to walk up to her door. But after a couple of steps she turned and went back. She pressed a light kiss to Troy's cheek before turning and running all the way to her door. Troy stood there stationary until Gabriella had disappeared behind her front door. Then he turned away with a smile on his face and started to head home. He had done what he came to do. And maybe more.

A/N2: Ah, a little bit of a cliffie, but it's just a oneshot so see it as you want. Now review! I command thee! lol. Just, well if you want. lol. Thanks. -Mac


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